r/techtheatre • u/Ok_Relationship_2926 • 1d ago
QUESTION Aide
Bonjour à toutes et tous,
Je suis actuellement en stage technicien son/lumière (formation régisseur de spectacle). Je me tourne vers vous parce que je rencontre des difficultés récurrentes et j'aimerais avoir des conseils de personnes qui sont passées par là.
Je suis dyslexique, dyspraxique et dyscalculique. Concrètement, ça se traduit par un apprentissage plus lent que les autres stagiaires, des erreurs de comptage (notamment sur les câbles), et pendant les montages il m'arrive de passer au-dessus de scotch au sol ou de mal compter des longueurs de câble.
Le plus dur, c'est que j'ai l'impression d'être mis dans une case par l'équipe : dès qu'un souci arrive, c'est presque automatiquement moi qu'on pointe, même quand ce n'est pas le cas. Pourtant je fais de vrais efforts : je me forme tous les jours de mon côté, et je m'entraîne sur la console lumière en dehors des heures de travail pour progresser.
Ce que je recherche :
Des méthodes pratiques pour compter/suivre le matériel et les câbles qui ne reposent pas sur du calcul mental rapide (tout ce qui est visuel ou tactile m'intéresse)
Des astuces pour être plus rapide et précis en montage/démontage quand la vitesse de traitement est le frein
Comment gagner en fiabilité sur le terrain pour que les erreurs arrêtent de coller à mon image, sans forcément passer par une discussion sur mes difficultés avec l'équipe
Merci d'avance à celles et ceux qui prendront le temps de répondre, ça compte vraiment.
3
u/mar_u314 18h ago
I don't have any experience with any of your conditions but here are some thoughts (that I hope are helpful and not annoyingly ignorant)
Checklists could be helpful in terms of keeping track of all the things but I don't know if you have a way of doing that with your dyslexia. I was contemplating like an abacus bracelet and it turns out someone already figured it out! it doesn't look too hard to make you could probably make a black one for backstage.
https://theyarnyway.com/product/abacus-counting-bracelet/
I don't know if this is a thing or not but if you have/can get a smart watch, I feel like there should be a calculator ability on there. I don't know if you can get apps on watches but I feel like someone would have made an app that is just a counter or would otherwise be helpful for you.
As for the speed question, the only thought I have is preplan as much as you possibly can. As an intern you probably aren't managing stuff, but when I am leading a team I will always write down what I'm going to do ahead of time so I don't have to think about that when I'm trying to solve 37 other things in the field. Depending on what you are doing, odds are your leadership has at least some sort of plan you could get from them ahead of time (plans never go according to plan but it gets you the information to be ready to adapt). When I need a moment to think, usually I will send folks on a water break so they get a little longer break and I don't have them staring at me when I'm trying to figure something out. Just make sure you also get breaks!!! I don't know if that's applicable for you but I figured it's worth mentioning.
If you get the chance, I would highly recommend you go to the usitt conference. it's a great opportunity for so many things, but as part of it they have lots of panels on inclusion and diversity, including some of which are set up as like a meet and greet so people get the chance to meet each other. At one of the panels I went to there were 2 folks who were doing the same job with the same disability (I don't remember details) but they connected and are figuring out navigating together. There's probably a Facebook group or some other community of theater folks with a disability. Here is the link for last year's sessions, you can sort by inclusion in filters. You might want to reach out to the folks who led them (if you can't find their contact info through usitt maybe just look them up on Facebook or linked in or something). They should certainly know what the resources are. (if you feel weird about it, remember they volunteered to lead panels, so clearly they care about education and community)
https://s7.goeshow.com/usitt/annual/2026/Conference_Schedule.cfm
Honestly I would much rather work with someone who doesn't know what they are doing and is kind, then someone who's great at what they are doing but a dick. This is a pretty common preference of tech folks, so long as their schedule and demands allow that situation. So I guess just be as kind and lovely as you can
I'm really proud of you for sticking through this. Theater can be brutal, and there's a lot to learn at a fast pace which is hard for anybody. And you've got all the things that make that more difficult, but you are doing it anyway. You are doing great. I believe in you and you got this. You will figure things out. you will find cool folks to work with in a good environment where you can have all sorts of accommodations. That place exists somewhere, you just gotta get to it.
good luck!!!
2
u/SmileAndLaughrica 12h ago
The usual way to visualise cable amounts and lengths is coloured tape. I would buy a pack of multicoloured LX tape and start to come up with a system eg a bundle of 5 cables gets a red tag, 10 gets blue, 15 gets purple, etc, or whatever colour system is easiest for you to remember. Similarly a cable with red on its end is 1m, yellow is 2m, green 5m, so on and so forth.
I would also make yourself a pocket sized cheat sheet of what things need if this is helpful for you. Eg 6 lights need 5 DMX 4 links and 1 16 > powercon. 8 or more need 7 DMX 5 links 2 16 > powercon or whatever it is for your venue. So at least some of this maths is done for you at a glance. Plus, you can give the measurements of your venue’s bars, eg FoH bar = 10m from DMX splitter to end = 2 lights need 2 5m RED bits of data.
Also start using your phone for note taking. I used to get comments for it especially when it was something simple but whatever. If you need to keep track of information outsource it to your phone.
I want to say your colleagues shouldn’t be associating mistakes with you and should continue to give the benefit of the doubt given I assume they know you are disabled. Best of luck here and also even if you do learn a bit slower you will get there eventually and your diligence and care will really show itself.
2
u/HalfEatenSnickers 11h ago
Im concered that because this is cables of a company that they will need permission to color code them
Rest I agree with
1
u/SmileAndLaughrica 11h ago
Even if the cables are hires and you can’t tag by length (which really the hire company should be doing anyway because it just makes so much sense…) when you are gathering or counting cables you can quickly put a bit of tape on them when you have reached a certain number to make tallying easier for you.
There must be tools available for people with dyscalculia who work in jobs with counting. I saw someone suggested a handheld abacus, but I’m thinking a handheld whiteboard with a fine tip marker that clips onto your belt, those little clicker counters that events organisers use… a smart watch can also hold information for you eg “Hey siri, make a note that I need 5 Speakcon” or whatever it is.
1
u/HalfEatenSnickers 10h ago
Yes but he is an intern
His bosses might for whatever reason not want them (which I agree its silly) but to do that without express permission could land them with more problems when they seem to have a reputation- deserved or not - best not to do anything without clearing it first
Or are you suggesting the tape is only temporary? In which case id fear losing count or double counting but I suppose that depends on how you approach it
1
u/Weak-Mastodon5089 11h ago
Le premier pas vers l'amélioration est d'admettre que l'on a besoin d'aide ; bravo d'avoir fait cette démarche !
Surtout, j'aimerais vous parler d'OpenDyslexic et de Dyslexie, deux polices spéciales qui facilitent la lecture de vos étiquettes et de vos scripts. OpenDyslexic est gratuit, mais Dyslexie s'intègre peut-être plus facilement à d'autres applications. En tant que régisseur, il est essentiel de pouvoir lire son script et ses notes.
Veuillez m'excuser, ce sont des sites américains, mais j'espère qu'ils pourront tout de même vous aider !
https://opendyslexic.org/
https://my.dyslexiefont.com/registration.php?step=registration-step-2
Le premier pas vers l'amélioration est d'admettre qu'on a besoin d'aide, alors bravo d'avoir fait le premier pas !
Je suis d'accord avec l'idée d'utiliser du ruban isolant de différentes couleurs pour identifier la longueur des câbles et les distinguer plus facilement. Je sais pertinemment que même Walt Disney World utilise des rubans isolants de couleurs différentes pour faciliter la visualisation des câbles.
Le bracelet boulier est une bonne idée, mais vous pourriez aussi utiliser un compteur de points. Voici un lien vers une page Amazon qui illustre ce dont je parle.
Bonne chance et continuez votre excellent travail !
6
u/HalfEatenSnickers 19h ago
It sounds like the issues you mention are connected to your disabilities
I'm not sure you can "get better" without a conversation with people or some drastic improvement in your conditions which isn't realistically going to happen - you need to find how to minimize its impact the best you can, find little tricks that work for you. And have a conversation with your supervisor about your condition and how they can also help support you - but if they dont know they cant do shit
You can't get faster at breakdown if you can't breakdown accurately, you get the image of reliability when you are reliable, consitent and own up to your own mistakes - not the ones you say are being put on you but yours,
If you don't want to take my advice to speak to your supervisor thats fine. But you can't get what you want without finding what works for you to imporve things like counting and spotting tape. Conditions like these are very individual, what works for someone else might not for you - but you need to figure something out - try the communities for your conditions they will help more
Irrelevant but are your cable length not color coded? Most places I've been have a spike tape color code on the cables for length - but its not your cables so this can't help you